Ras ir-Reqqa is one of the most picturesque places in Gozo. It is a small pointed headland which lies directly beneath the village of Żebbug, west of the famous Xwejni salt pans. Reqqa point is a Natura 2000 site and is designated a special conservation area and special protection area.
Apart from the natural beauty, this place is also synonymous with various activities including fishing, salt production and diving.
Reqqa reef drops to a depth of 17 meters westward underwater from the left side of Reqqa point. It is therefore shallow on the left hand side but deeper to the east where the reef is carved with numerous fissures, inlets and crevices and leads down to a sandy bottom at 25m.
In 1622 Grandmaster Alof de Wignacourt set up a sentinel station in this area. It complemented several fortifications built near Xwejni and Marsalforn and which made this part of the Gozitan coast safer.
As regards to diving, Reqqa Point is probably the most popular dive on Gozo’s north coast due to its spectacular underwater topography and abundance of marine life. A lovely reef buzzing with life, huge boulders, a submerged chimney or two, a vertical drop off and abundant marine life are some of the features that render this site one of Malta’s best dive sites. The northern coast is the main attraction of this part of the dive. Among the fish which inhabit this area one finds large groupers, dentex, rays and hunting barracudas.
Recently it was decided that a bronze sculpture created by the Gozitan artist Austin Camilleri (1972- ) will be installed in the area. In the artist’s own words, the sculpture, in the form of two horses nested in each other and titled Wieħed, is intended to reflect the structure of the cave that is under the face of the cliff.
The Clockmaker’s Saltworks
The Saltworks were documented by the great French artist and traveller Jean-Pierre Louis Laurent Houël (1735-1813) who, in his late 18th century publication entitled Voyage Pittoresque dans les Iles de Sicile, de Malte et de Lipari, makes detailed references to the location and the saltworks. According to the author these are located “between the northern and western slopes of the mountain of Żebbuġ where the valley leads on to the coast. This place can be reached from a long stretch of land that leads towards the coast which is about forty feet above sea level.” Houël’s account also makes reference to the disastrous enterprise of the maker of these saltworks. The latter, probably a Maltese retired clockmaker, tried to make financial gain from a piece of land he owned in this area of Żebbuġ by starting a salt producing activity.
He dug a reservoir and a set of shallow basins aimed at being filled with sea water and through evaporation in the hot summer days, salt is produced. The clockmaker even employed a number of people to assist him in the enterprise. Soon after work begun in the saltworks it was realized that filling up the reservoir with sea water proved very difficult as the edge of the property stood meters above the sea. The clockmaker decided to dig a vertical shaft directly into the sea as he realized that the reservoir stood directly above a natural cave that led directly into the sea. This proved to be a very successful decision and this meant that the reservoir could be easily filled with seawater. However a problem arose, as water filling the shallow basins soon started to disappear. The rock where the basins were cut was too porous to hold the water.
The project proved to be an utter disaster. To add insult to injury, the following winter, huge waves crashed into the underlying cave and a 60-foot waterspout rose through the shaft dug by the clockmaker. The seawater was blown by the wind over the surrounding fields and completely destroyed the farmers’ crops. The farmers sued the clockmaker for compensation. This was the last straw and the clockmaker passed away before the ordeal was over. The farmers decided to block the shaft with huge boulders which were broken down by waves making the waterspout to reappear several times.
Research: Mario Cassar
Copyright: Soċjeta’ Banda Santa and Żebbuġ Gozo Local Council
